Lately, I’ve been swamped with work. You see, I’ve had no luck trying to find a professional programmer and web designer to redesign my Directory of Russian-speaking businesses in Europe for a reasonable price, and so I’m considering starting the redesign on my own. This sounds like a pretty crazy idea though, as I have tons of daily work with incoming registrations, news, and classifieds, which all need to be moderated and reviewed and promoted and so on. Of course I would never be able to carry on with my site but for my family who help me with the baby while Stano is at work. But even with all the help I receive from my relatives, I’m still hesitating about my ability to start a large redesign project. Motivating tips on balancing work and a baby are welcome! ;-)

I’ve been so snowed under with work that I absolutely forgot about Maslenitsa!! I only realized the festive week was nearly over when Mom invited us for a family dinner on the last day of Maslenitsa. So I didn’t even manage to make any Blinis this year! I was so upset. I only made some lemon curd following this recipe by Dansukker. This was my first time making lemon curd at home and I was surprised by how easy that was. I followed the recipe to the word, just incorporating some grated lemon zest for an even more vibrant flavour. I brought a jar of lemon curd to our family get-together and we spread it on the delish Tsar’s Blinis along with caviar, sour cream, and raspberry jam. And I’ve reserved a mini jar of the curd for myself - to stir into my vanilla ice-cream in the evening. Here, I also found some more fabulous ideas for using lemon curd in desserts.

And since I am not posting any recipes this time, I would like to finally show you some pictures of the Art Nouveau district in Riga (this prestigious area is also know as the “Quiet Centre”). I’ve read there are about 800 Art Nouveau buildings in Riga; well, here are just a few, but renovated, and the most beautiful, to my mind. A lot of the Art Nouveau houses in Riga were designed my Mikhail Eisenstein, the father of Sergei Eisenstein, who directed the world-famous silent film The Battleship Potemkin (1925).

And here are a couple of pictures from our weekend’s trip to Jurmala.You can hardly tell the frozen sea from the snow-covered sand here. You would never guess this chilly place becomes a resort area in summer, would you? :)

11 Responses

:D Your post reminded me of the first time I tried to make lemon curd. I was impatient, and instead of slowly incorporating the egg into the lemon/sugar mixture, I dumped it all in and got a lemon-flavored-poached-egg creation! And then, to make matters worse, I came up with the *great* idea of adding more eggs to the gunk and got this great big scrambled egg creation. It was terribly sour omelet! Lesson learned - when making lemon curd (or curd of any type), don’t be impatient. :D

Amanda, and your story reminded me of my first experience of making (trying to make!) choux pastry :D I’m yet to explore your blog by the way - I have it opened in one of my browser tabs, just haven’t had the time yet - sorry!
The yellow dots, well as I mentioned I decided to add some grated lemon zest to my lemon curd - perhaps that’s not the classic way, I just love lemon zest so much :-p

Aww.. that’s so nice of you to read my blog! I really appreciate that.

Usually, when I make pate choux, I follow a recipe from steamykitchen.com. (http://steamykitchen.com/6659-super-simple-pate-a-choux-basic-cream-puff-recipe.html)I’ve always have had success with it. It’s easy to remember too! Just a easy little ratio of one’s. :D

Katrina, I usually call it “takaya limonnaja shtuka”… :D One of my friends calls it “limonnoe salo” though… I did see a picture of your Mimosa cake, did you post the recipe as well? I couldn´t find it anywhere on your blog! Looks fabulous, and new to me!

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